Bell: The Olympics bid and the city hall gong show

They can’t go away for the summer without screwing around one last time.

Yes, another long day’s journey into night. The city hall of mirrors. The big blue playpen. Or this nickname that’s a blast from the past.

Silly Hall.

We wait for the date of the plebiscite, to find out exactly when Calgarians will cast a thumbs-up or thumbs-down on the city’s Olympic bid. We wait for the actual question that’ll be on the ballot.

And while we wait, we hear plenty before city council goes behind closed doors to talk about the vote and the question.

Behind those closed doors, that comfy and cozy safe space where many councillors like to retreat out of earshot of the ever-prying press.

Why do they go behind closed doors this time?

Mayor Nenshi isn’t fussed.

Jeromy Farkas, the rookie councillor who is city hall’s Public Enemy No. 1, wants action.

He says if the plebiscite date isn’t rolled out Tuesday, before the councillors go on summer break, he’ll stand up in city council and propose scrapping the Olympic bid altogether.

Farkas is backed by his usual ally, Sean Chu.

“We have to poop or get off the pot,” says Farkas.

He adds you could “cut the tension with a knife” at the last closed-door Olympic gabfest, the one on Monday..

Farkas says you can feel the frustration.

In dealing with the Olympics, it feels like council can’t rely on what they’re told. It is “like walking on constantly shifting sand.”

He talks about the risks to the city of hosting the Olympics but he cannot say more. He talks about the risks accelerating.

To begin with, he wasn’t comfortable with the bid but …

“Now it’s sheer insanity to proceed.” Yikes.

The councillor can go no further. It’s closed-door stuff.

“I find it is reprehensible we’re not coming clean with Calgarians,” says Farkas.

Drats! He leaves us with an even bigger appetite for answers but no food for thought. That’s marked top secret.

Chu also remembers the closed-door Olympic meeting. He could feel the air, very thick.

The councillor tells us there are now complications.

Complications? What complications?

“I can’t talk about that,” says Chu.

Are there obstacles beyond the province and the feds not promising any Olympic cheques yet?

“I cannot say yes and I cannot say no,” says Chu.

Chu just won’t talk.

Speaking of talking, we hit another brick wall trying to find out how much coin Mary Moran is pulling down for leading the charge on an Olympic bid.

No one seems to have that tidy figure handy.

6 p.m.

A lot of the press is gone. This is about the time when city hall starts to make many of its decisions.

Hmmm… wonder why.

We get the news. The vote on the Olympics will be Nov. 13. On that day, Calgarians will be asked if they are for or against hosting the 2026 Winter Olympic Games and Paralympics.

With all the uncertainty about the Olympics, city council also votes to maybe have a special meeting in late August to jaw over the Olympic bid again, no doubt much of the chatter once again behind those closed doors.

Yes, if things start going sideways in August they don’t want to wait to deal with the mess.

After all, on Sept. 10 city council could flush this bid down the toilet.

The day isn’t over. Chu and Farkas want to somehow make it easier for the public to get information on the bid. Tempers flare.

Chu and Farkas get nowhere.

It is quite the day. You readers should come down in the fall.

Folks who have witnessed the city council fun and games up close and personal say it’s actually worse than the theatre of the absurd seen in this column.

This day, a councillor takes a page out of the Trump playbook and accuses your scribbler of pushing fake news. Surely he must be joking.

You can’t make up these tales of city hall. Nobody has that wild an imagination.

And here is something definitely not fake but unfortunately it isn’t news for loyal readers of this column.

At one point on Tuesday, Coun. Druh Farrell says there are two things the city must do. Run elections and bury people.

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